How would you describe the city of Teotihuacan?

How would you describe the city of Teotihuacan?

Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located 30 miles (50 km) northeast of modern-day Mexico City. By the time the Aztecs found the city in the 1400s and named it Teotihuacan (meaning “the place where the gods were created”), the city had been abandoned for centuries.

Why was Teotihuacan known as the city of the gods?

The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 CE. The term has been glossed as “birthplace of the gods”, or “place where gods were born”, reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan.

What was the purpose of Teotihuacan?

Therefore, it most likely was built to honor a deity. Unfortunately, looting over the years has reduced the material available for study. Teotihuacan is the name of a Mesoamerican indigenous civilization and its grandest city, once the largest city in Mexico.

What is unique about the Teotihuacan?

Teotihuacan is unique because it is different from other ancient Mesoamerican cities. It had a multi-ethnic society where people worshipped many gods, was world’s largest exporter of obsidian tools, and grew to be one of the most powerful cities in its heyday.

What ancient city was known as the city of Gods?

Teotihuacán
Teotihuacán, (Nahuatl: “The City of the Gods”) the most important and largest city of pre-Aztec central Mexico, located about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of modern Mexico City. At its apogee (c.

What are the three possible reasons why Teotihuacan was destroyed?

Around 600 CE, the major buildings of the city were destroyed by fire, artworks were smashed and the city went into decline. Teotihuacan remains today the most visited ancient site in Mexico.

What was the Teotihuacan government?

Teotihuacan was the first urban civilization of Mesoamerica and one of the largest of the ancient world. Following a tradition in archaeology to equate social complexity with centralized hierarchy, it is widely believed that the city’s origin and growth was controlled by a lineage of powerful individuals.

What does the Pyramid of the Sun symbolize?

The pyramid of the sun according to the Aztec doctrine symbolizes fertility. Near the Pyramid of the Sun, specifically at the northern end of the Avenue of the Dead, there is the second largest pyramid in the city, the pyramid of the moon, some have called it Tenan, which in Nahuatl, means “mother or protective stone”.

What is the difference between Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan?

However, they were also the most distinctive and divergent cities of ancient Mesoamerica. Teotihuacan (100-600 CE) began as a radical experiment to create a city unlike any other in Mesoamerica. Tenochtitlan (1325-1521 CE), on the other hand, started out as a typical Aztec city-state capital.

Who inhabited Teotihuacan?

No matter its principal builders, evidence shows that Teotihuacan hosted a patchwork of cultures including the Maya, Mixtec, and Zapotec. One theory says an erupting volcano forced a wave of immigrants into the Teotihuacan valley and that those refugees either built or bolstered the city.

What is Teotihuacan – city of the gods?

Teotihuacan – City of the gods is a 12 minute documentary of an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Colombian Americas. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BCE and continued to be built until about 250 CE.

What is the history of Teotihuacan?

The city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, was settled as early as 400 B.C. and became the most powerful and influential city in the region by 400 A.D. By the time the Aztecs found the city in the 1400s and named it Teotihuacan (meaning “the place where the gods were created”), the city had been abandoned for centuries.

What is Ciudadela Teotihuacan famous for?

The Ciudadela is situated at the south end of the Avenue of the Dead. The 38-acre (15-hectare) courtyard contains multiple elite residential complexes and is dominated by the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, a kind of truncated pyramid that is adorned with numerous stone heads of the Feathered Serpent deity. Who Built Teotihuacan?

What is the avenue of the dead in Teotihuacan?

The main buildings of Teotihuacan are connected by the Avenue of the Dead (or Miccaotli in the Aztec language Nahuatl). The Avenue of the Dead is a 130-foot- (40-meter-) wide, 1.5-mile- (2.4-km-) long road that’s oriented slightly east (15.5 degrees) of true north and points directly at the nearby sacred peak of Cerro Gordo, an extinct volcano.